Take Two: Love Hurts

Quick synopsis: Another film from the A Long Kiss Goodnight/ Bourne Identity playbook, but with a twist. Unlike other movies of this type, it’s not amnesia that thrusts the main character into the mundane, but a desire to break away from the violent (and man, I do mean VIOLENT) profession he was once in. Here we have Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) currently working in real estate but in dragged kicking in screaming back into his old life by love interest Rose (Ariana DeBose), a slew of hitmen and Marvin’s kingpin brother.

The good: The fight scenes and there A LOT. No surprise, Quan plays humble everyman really well but what might be surprising is how natural he is in the fight choreography. It’s very natural. There are moments where it was like watching a young Jackie Chan. At one point, he’s downright scary even. And it makes sense, he was pretty scrappy waaaaaaay back in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to, so it’s probably fair to assume, his had his share of martial arts training and it shows.

There was also a fun/odd love story between one of Marvin’s coworkers and a poetic assassin but even that seems a little odd in comparison to the rest of the movie.  

But that’s about it. One of the biggest selling points for me was that it has a runtime of about 88 minutes. Unfortunately, a lot ofcould have been fleshed out with more time. Rose for example, is a character who is a little odd for no apparent reason and more time devoted to her could help explain why. It really just felt like the movie didn’t have enough time to really go anywhere.

Was I entertained? Yes. Did I love it? Not especially.

My score: 6.5

Alright, that about does it for this time. Until next week when I review…. Whatever the heck I feel like seeing…

Take One! One of Them Days

“You look real alopeciaous today.”

I will admit, I was apprehensive to see this at first. Really apprehensive. But, thanks to a coworker and comedian Ellen Cleghorne who sang its praises on Instagram ( “Think Friday with women in the lead doing it for the culture,” she said. )I caved.

Good cave.

Quick synopsis, round-the-way besties/roommates, Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (Sza) are two broke girls of South Central who need to come up with money to pay off rent and eventually a gangster by the end of the day. The path to the money is blocked by cheating boyfriends, a big bootied vixen, “tumbleweeave”, and Hot Cheeto Martinis, and general bad luck while their friendship is put to the test.

A couple of minutes in, I was already invested, and in In less than fifteen minutes in, I got the first of several genuine laughs out loud. The sister cracking up in the row in front of me cackling at all of the same moments I did definitely didn’t hurt.

The casting was definitely a nice smattering of Black Hollywood. Keke Palmer always delivers and definitely shoulders the film as the straight-ish main character (but do worry, she get to definitely gets to show a little edge and some spice.) Sza was great! I think this is her first role but you wouldn’t have known. She felt very natural. Vanessa Bell Calloway--- yes, THAT Vanessa Bell Callaway was a pleasant surprise. As was Kat Williams. Janelle James was also a big part of another laugh out loud moment. The rest of the cast was great and there were plenty of people that I didn’t necessarily know by name but recognized as well as a few new faces I am sure will be seeing elsewhere.

So many funny moments. I was also pleasantly surprised when she got to the the “you lucky she holdin’ me back line” which she repeated in the trailer which I found extremely corner and a large part of my initial hesitance in seeing the movie in the first place, was only uttered once and downplayed, so score!

I will admit it did take a few unnecessary turns toward the end and though only an hour and 37, it felt a little longer by the end, still, I had a good time which, at the end of the day, is what you want from a movie like this. Would I watch it again, sure. There are probably a few subtle jokes I missed the first time so for that alone, it would be work a revisit.

I haven’t come up with a solid rating system, so for now, I guess the old scale of 1-10 works.

My score: 7

Alright, that about does it for this time. Until next week when I review…. Whatever the heck I feel like seeing… have yourself a Hot Cheeto Martini and try not to be a wretched individual…